


Sorry Ash, Arceus Insisted

by LoreilDarksky00



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: "its fine I brought it on myself", "sorry I stole your role in the universe", And anxiety inducing secrets, Ash's soul is Fucked, Aura is a thing Ash and Sasha know about but can't... use..., Dysfunctional Family, Found Family, Identity Issues, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Time Travel Fix-It, congrats Ash Fucked Up and someone else has to Fix It, he's a friendly soul tumor, he's the voice in her head, its great, misplaced guilt as a theme, probably, the League is a bit Too Involved with the lives of certain families, there is some angst, thing end up okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-04 22:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16798270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoreilDarksky00/pseuds/LoreilDarksky00
Summary: Ash Ketchum kinda sorta fucked up in his twenties and the world ended. Or at least, that's all he said about it to his 'replacement'; a girl from the "real world" who's soul got nabbed by the Legendaries to use as a placeholder for Ash's, because HIS soul was mostly destroyed in that world-ending fiasco. So now he's the little voice in her head, trying to keep her from panicking too much. She doesn't mind the Pokemon being real now bit, but having to follow in the Chosen One's footsteps is a heavy burden she's in no way prepared to bare. She just hopes she can keep up. The anime is a lot more scary when its REAL.





	Sorry Ash, Arceus Insisted

“This had _better_ be a dream,” she breathed even as she stared in the mirror. The face looking back at her was not hers, not in the least. _She_ had red hair and green eyes, with glow-in-the-dark white skin and hundreds of freckles. She had _liked_ her freckles.

The face staring back at her wasn’t even her age, instead rounded and young, tanned, black hair that was cropped short and stuck up wildly, with brown eyes and _suspiciously familiar z-shaped birthmarks._ This wasn’t funny. Not one bit.

Because Ash Ketchum was a danger magnet and _died_ at least twice that she could recall, and she… she was not about that life. Swallowing hard, she touched the not-her face, tugging on the skin. It felt real, unfortunately, and the only way she could think of to prove this was a dream was to ensure the door was closed and yank her pants down. So she was still a female, which… alright, that meant nothing if this was a hyper-realistic dream. At least she hadn’t had a sudden gender change.

_‘Well, ** **you**** didn’t,’_ a voice grumbled, and she froze, a muffled squeak escaping her mouth as she quickly covered herself again. __‘_ Don’t bother, we’re sharing a body now so might as well get used to it.’_

“Oh this is gonna be awkward,” she whispered. “What the fuck, what the _fuck _…__ ”

_‘Long story short, I messed up at the last second and the world ended. In the process, I also messed up my soul, and when Arceus went to send me back in time, he had to find a new soul for me to hitch a ride with, though I’m guessing he just thought the gender change was funny since he can change his gender at will. So I’m basically your friendly soul tumor who’s here to help you out as we redo everything. And apparently we have two weeks until we get Pikachu, so there’s a bit of time for you to get adjusted.’_

“... I think I’m gonna need more than that,” she protested weakly.

__‘Probably,’__ the real Ash agreed as the faker one slowly back up to the wall and slid down it. _‘Look, I know this is really awful for you, having to get dragged into this, but I’ll try to help you keep things as simple and easy as possible.’_

She exhaled slowly, her ever-overactive mind trying to figure out the best course of action without having to address the question of how exactly she got here. “Okay… so… ugh, this is complicated… first things first, I guess, is there anything you think I really should know right away?”

__‘_ Uh… I think most Legendaries remember the last time around already, except maybe Mewtwo, don’t know if he’s even been cloned yet… And my Pokemon…’_ Real Ash hesitated, his voice distorting for a second in what could only be grief. _‘They won’t remember. Neither will friends or family.’_

“That’s…” She could only stare at the floor in dismay. That was terrible. For him to be technically so close, but for all the Pokemon and people he must have loved to just… not know him? “You should ask Arceus for a refund, that’s bullshit.”

He let out a harsh bark of laughter. _‘Yeah… yeah, if only. Don’t… don’t you worry about_ that. _You have other things to focus on. Like building a team, there are some things we can’t avoid and you’ll need all the firepower you can get.’_

“... Is it okay to rebuild yours? Even if they don’t remember, they’re still…” She didn’t know how to finish that. Would it hurt Ash for her to have all his Pokemon?

_‘You… if you want to find them,_ its _not_ like _I could stop you. Don’t hesitate to catch others if you connect with them, you’re not supposed to do exactly as I did, that’s the whole point of going back in time, to ** **change**** things. But some… there are some I would like to help, like last time. I just want to make sure they’re safe.’_

“Like Charmander?”

_‘Especially Charmander. Look, I know you have a basic idea of the timeline from it being a TV show in your old world because Arceus mentioned it, but… be prepared, okay? I doubt a kid’s cartoon would have shown how bad it actually was. So just…mentally, try to prepare yourself.’_

“My parents owned a rescue and rehabilitation center for animals,” she said softly. “I’ve probably already seen something close. Though this probably means I should work out a bit, because I think I’m going to punch Damien in the face.”

Ash snorted, the sound less pained than his voice a moment ago. _‘Good idea. Physical fitness in general, it can only help.’_

With that said, she continued to stare at the floor, until Ash sighed and verbally guided her through showering, getting dressed, and going back to his－their?－room. Apparently it was the beginning of spring, and since they had so little time left before they would be leaving they didn’t need to go to school. Luckily it was a day where Delia was already at her restaurant, so she had some time before she needed to kick it into gear and… do what she’d been brought here to do.

So maybe it hadn’t quite sunk in yet.

The room that wasn’t hers, though, was making her uncomfortable. After a bit of awkward shuffling around, trying not to look too hard at all the things that truly belonged to Ash, she made her way out of the house, trying to memorize the new surroundings. Pallet Town wasn’t as small as the show had led her to believe, but that was mainly because it was so spread out. Practically on autopilot, she explored the town while taking care to make it look like she __wasn’t__ a stranger.

People waved at her, forcing her to paste a grin on her face and wave back, pretending like she had somewhere to be so they didn’t stop her to chat. She didn’t want to risk anyone finding out she was a fake.

Occasionally Ash would speak up, telling her what certain buildings were and the names of the people waving. It was painfully obvious that he was suffering from the situation, more than she was－these were people he’d grown up with, people that would never know he existed because no one would remember him as he was. Instead, they remembered a falsehood that was centered around her, the impostor.

_‘You can’t keep thinking like that,’_ he scolded her. _‘The only reason I can even be here is_ because of _you, and that’s important. ‘_

Not wanting to look crazy, she couldn’t reply to that, couldn’t verbalize that she still felt guilty because she was going around wearing his altered body and taking over his life. Somehow he got it anyways, and she felt a phantom flick on her forehead.

_‘... You were younger than me, when I messed up and caused all this. If anyone should feel guilty for ruining someone’s life, it’s me.’_

That shut her up for a while.

Somehow she ended up standing near the large building that was Oak’s lab, looking more impressive in… real life. A rustling in the bushes near a set of what looked like generators made her pause, then slowly step closer. The leaves parted to reveal a beat up, very familiar yellow mouse.

Pikachu glowered up at them wearily, taking a few stumbling steps before passing out on the ground, face-first. For a split second, she froze. Then a decade of informal training kicked in, and she lowered herself to the ground and quickly inspected Pikachu’s injuries. Bite marks on the limbs, bruising visible beneath thin and ragged fur; likely fighting another Pokemon. With great care, she slid her hands beneath the injured Pokemon that she had a hunch would be her starter and lifted.

Securing him so he wouldn’t be jostled, she darted around to the front of the lab, managing to open the door without using her currently occupied hands. She didn’t even have to say anything. One of the lab assistants saw her immediately and rushed them into what looked like a full medical bay, instructing her to put Pikachu on a padded table that was then closed off into a glass tube, what were probably Potions misting down onto his body.

“Poor thing… Probably Jack’s work,” the woman scowled fiercely.

“Jack…?”

The woman glanced up, gaze softening. “Ah… there’s a trainer who sometimes comes around to ask the professor to put him on certain breeder’s waiting lists. The professor refuses because Jack is so violent, but we haven’t been able to prove any abuse against his Pokemon. But every time he gets rejected, a wild Pokemon turns up injured. We’re still trying to catch him in the act.” At that, the woman glared across the room, and fake-Ash could almost see the visualizations of murder going through the woman’s mind.

“... Will Pikachu be okay?”

“Yes, you must have gotten to him fairly soon after the injuries were inflicted. It’ll take a few hours to have him stable enough to leave the medical tank, but by tomorrow he’ll just be sore. You’re welcome to come see him in the morning.”

“Okay,” she said, staring at the small form on the table. Was this what happened that made Pikachu so angry with humans? Or had this changed with her arrival?

_‘... If we ever come across this Jack, punch him in the face.’_ Ash was furious, and he was right to feel that way; intact memory or not, Pikachu was his _starter _,__ the only Pokemon he took with him to new regions, his best friend, his _partner_. Jack would get what was coming to him.

“Don’t do anything reckless,” the lab assistant said sternly, as if reading their thoughts. “Karma will get that jerk.”

“But these hands are faster,” she said without thinking, flushing slightly as the woman gave her mixed look of amusement and disapproval.

“Be that as it may, Jack is an experienced trainer with strong Pokemon. I doubt you’d be able to catch up with him before the law does.”

_‘That sounds like a challenge,’_ Ash growled, and fake-Ash just gave the woman a bland smile without replying. No promises. She was an animal lover, something that was easily converted to Pokemon lover, and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d decked someone for hurting a living being that wasn’t a human. She may be a petite girl, but she knew how to punch properly.

Soon enough she’d been dismissed from the building, the sun much lower than the sky than it had been when she’d set out to explore. It would have been nice if she hadn’t come face to face with Gary fucking Oak.

“Well, well, Ashy-girl, what are you doing here? Hoping for handouts?” God that sneer was annoying. At least his eyes were nice to look at, a bright viridian green, even though that hideous purple sweater was just begging to be burned.

“No.” She paused. “Do you know anything about a trainer called Jack that apparently keeps coming to bother the professor?”

Miraculously, that was all it took for the arrogance to morph into an anger that wasn’t directed at them. “Lemme guess, another Pokemon showed up beat to hell?”

She nodded, glancing back at the lab door before shaking it off. She’d be back tomorrow, anyways, so there was no point in staying. Eyes flickering to Gary, she tossed out whatever it was that had been on the tip of her tongue. This situation was still too crazy, too new, for her to deal with him at the moment. With a shrug, she kept walking, forcefully ignoring the muffled sounds of indignation despite how she hated conflict and would rather try to mend a friendship that was never hers, and made her way back to the Ketchum home.

_‘... You don’t need to isolate yourself,’_ Ash said softly. _‘If you want to be friends with them, you can.’_ He didn’t need to elaborate the ones that ‘them’ referred to. But she didn’t want to steal his friends. This world wasn’t hers, she was just here as a… biological pilot, basically. A tool to help Ash fix whatever it was he’d messed up.

She ignored the sound of distress that wasn’t really a sound, and stuck her head in the freezer for a minute once she got inside. The pressure building behind her eyes was killer.

XxXxX

Interacting with Delia was stressful in that she had no idea how to react. The woman seemed to think she was feeling under the weather, insisting she go to bed early. After learning about Pikachu, Delia was sympathetic and even said she would make some treats for the Electric type Pokemon. Then she ordered fake-Ash up to bed. Knowing that there was no arguing with a determined mother, hers or not, fake-Ash obeyed.

__‘_ You gotta stop calling yourself fake,’ _Ash told her as she awkwardly got into the bed that wasn’t hers. _‘You aren’t me, that was the whole point of this. Just… alright, let’s start with_ this－what’s _****your**** name, then?’_

She opened her mouth to tell him, only to stop, a little confused and more frightened to discover that she couldn’t remember. “I don’t know.”

_‘Shit… well, we’ll have to call you something other than ‘fake-Ash’… though it’ll probably be easier to have it related. Please don’t pick Ashley though.’_

That got a small smile out of her, but she was too wound up to reply. She didn’t know _her_ name, would have to figure out how to handle being called a name that wasn’t hers, constantly reminded of who she wasn’t. She didn’t know how she was going to face Delia for the remainder of the time she would be in Pallet Town.

There was a sigh. _‘Don’t over think it. She’ll write just about anything off as being excited over starting a journey, or being worried over Pikachu.’_

That didn’t actually help much, but she appreciated Ash’s attempt. It still took her hours to get to sleep, put off by the only barely familiar surroundings, and her dreams were filled with more realistic versions of the anime she used to watch near constantly. Ash’s memories? Things were a lot more terrifying when it wasn’t a cartoon, even though some at some points the scenes blurred when she was reaching her limit, almost as if knowing she couldn’t take anymore.

And then came the whispers, light and airy, voices that still drowned out the cries of the Pokemon. She couldn’t understand them, wasn’t sure she wanted to. Then there was water, salty and dim, something large swimming past her that made the whispers vanish.

The transition from heavy water to powerful winds whipping around her was sudden. There were no more voices, just the shrill sound of the winds and an endless spread of clouds. Just as the bright light of the sun began to get to painful, she was assaulted with scorching heat. A mountain of fire erupted, bleeding into a forest. The light barely reached past the top layer of the trees, leaving the forest floor dark and humid.

Violet light searched for something, and blue light rekindled a spark, a small form sitting upright from where it had fallen and scampering off.

****That is enough… rest.** **

The rest of her dreams were simple, and when she woke up she didn’t remember any of it.

She spent a good twenty minutes or so just staring blankly at the wall. Her vision took a little while to clear from the bleariness of sleep, but when it did everything came rushing back and she sat straight up, slowly losing focus as she realized that yesterday had been real. Pressing a hand over her face, she slid off the bed. It still felt awkward, knowing everything in this room wasn’t actually hers and the feeling that she shouldn’t be here was overwhelming. But there wasn’t anything she could do about that, so she shuffled towards the closet, finding a plain shirt and pair of jeans.

_‘Morning, kid.’_

She frowned. “You can’t be _that_ much older than me.”

_‘I was in my mid-twenties when the world ended, and you were…you were fifteen when Arceus brought you here. So yeah, you’re a kid, and until we figure out a name for you that’s what I’ll call you.’_

Not bothering to hide her grimace at that, and shoving down any reaction to the mention of __before__ , she resolved to figure out a name as soon as possible. But that could wait a little longer, she had to go see Pikachu and check on him, and hopefully begin befriending him. She honestly didn’t think her chances of succeeding on the first day were good, but they had two weeks until she’d leave Pallet Town, so hopefully by then she’d manage to convince him to go with her. Wondering if the professor would also try to have her befriend Pikachu, she started asking the questions she should have asked yesterday.

“So… last time, did Professor Oak give you Pikachu because of the whole thing with Celebi?”

_‘He did. He talked to me about it a few months before I messed up, actually, said that he recognized Pikachu from then. He said he’d actually had a backup set of_ starters, _****and**** one alternative that he hid before I got there.’_

That sounded a little extreme, but funny, though she wondered what that alternative Pokemon was. Were alternate starters from regional professors actually common? She wasn’t sure how the world of Pokemon actually functioned, really, there was a lot she needed to familiarize herself with in two weeks.

“... I wonder… if Pikachu’s alright with it by the time we’re supposed to get a starter, if he’d want to be it. The professor only caught him last time because he was chewing on the cables, right? If he’s not doing that this time would he stay wild unless he agreed to be caught?” It wasn’t like she didn’t want Pikachu as ‘her’ starter, but she __was__ sort of trying to figure out if she could get the professor to show her that other alternate starter. If she was going to be put in a bunch of life-threatening situations she might as well take the time to sate her curiousity.

_‘... You’ve got a point… I guess we’ll see. Though once we’ve seen Pikachu, you should hit up the library._ There’s _some specifics about the League system you’ll need to know.’_

“Okay.” That sounded important. “I do have a couple unrelated questions before we go… first, was your aura ability an actual thing or just something my world added? And second, should we write out what happened in the last timeline, or is that too risky in case somebody finds it or something?”

Ash made a cross between a sigh and a groan. _‘I’d… actually forgotten about that. Yeah, I had something going on there but I never trained my aura or anything. That’s a good question, though, I don’t know if Arceus would have given it to you as well or not… I’ll see if there’s anything I remember that could clear that up. And let’s not, we really don’t want anybody finding out about time travel and all that. I mean, I guess we could tell someone, Arceus never said we couldn’t, but it’s… that’s pretty risky.’_

“Ash… who are you talking to?”

She froze, slowly turning towards the doorway where Delia was staring at her in concern and confusion. Of all the things she had to do, it was give the woman enough reason to think her insane.

_‘... Wow. Okay. Um… shit, I guess you can tell her that you have memories of a past life that have resurfaced or something since yesterday, or the past life itself can talk to you. I… don’t think that telling her everything is necessary right now.’_

Ash sounded panicked, and she really didn’t blame him. So she did as he said, only altered it a bit to make it sound like the past life still hadn’t fully integrated into her ‘current’ soul, which made it sound like it eventually would. A universe ‘oops’ in regards to her actually remembering said life, if you will. After the initial shock and questioning phase, Delia seemed… satisfied, if not totally alright with the situation. Once they’d migrated down the stairs to the kitchen, there was an awkward silence for a bit as Delia kept her back to fake-Ash while she cooked.

“... Is there anything specific you remember about this past life?” Delia finally asked, still not turning around.

Fake-Ash took a moment to mentally re-word things to fit this world. “Well, I helped out at some sort of Pokemon rescue and rehabilitation organization, so I remember some basic stuff about how to handle injured and mistreated ones…” Or so she hoped, that would be a really useful skill. On a side note, she’d figured out another way to make use of this situation. “Um… is my name short for anything?”

At the topic change, Delia turned around, a small but genuine smile on her face. “I’m a little surprised it took you so long to ask. Yes, your full name is Sasha Red Ketchum－it’s just when you were toddlers, Gary couldn’t pronounce it so he just called you ‘Asha’, and then you wouldn’t respond to anything else, so eventually I just took to calling you Ash.”

“You know what, I think I’ll get used to being called Sasha then.” It was clearly different enough from Ash without drawing that much suspicion, that and she could use the cover story of not being friends with Gary anymore for the switch. At Delia’s raised eyebrow, she shrugged a little. “It might help me sort of merge the two sets of memories, to use the full name. That and I’m not getting on with Gary that well at the moment.”

_‘How do you even… I never would have seen that opportunity.’_

“That’s a good idea… and I’ve been _waiting_ to use the name I spent so long picking out for you!” With that cheery statement, Delia started transferring the food she’d been cooking over to the table, noticeably happier than she’d been just a few minutes ago.

The newly-dubbed Sasha studied her carefully, taking in the subtle stress lines around her eyes, the well-hidden exhaustion. Ash was right, it would just make things worse for Delia if she knew the truth. This… she had to keep the act up.

So she turned her focus to talking, bringing up Pikachu and discussing what would probably happen to him. Through Delia, Sasha learned that most wild Pokemon that were treated for moderate injuries at the lab were released within a week, though a few sometimes chose to stay and live in the Corral. So it wouldn’t be that unusual for Pikachu to stay with her, if she could prove herself trustworthy.

After breakfast Delia brought out a small basket of homemade treats that Sasha offered to carry, and they made their way to the lab, though they paused several times to talk to the neighbors and people they passed. Sasha was partially grateful that the news about Pikachu had already spread, since it gave her an excuse for the way she kept looking towards the lab, a way to hide how uncomfortable she was around strangers who didn’t know they were strangers.

It took them a good half hour to arrive, and when they entered the building the same lab assistant that had helped Sasha with Pikachu greeted them with a smile.

“Good morning! Pikachu is awake, but be careful with him. He’s still rather agitated, but as long as you don’t make any sudden movements or loud noises there shouldn’t be any problems. Ah, are those for Pikachu? Good idea, poor thing could use some treats… here we are,” she said, opening a door near the end of the hallway she’d led them down. “Pikachu, the girl who helped you out came to visit!”

Sasha hid a grin at the look on Pikachu’s face. It was a mix between curiousity, irritation, and blatant condescension, and she could hear Ash laughing about it.

_‘Yep, that’s him alright.’_ Sasha was pretty sure Ash was trying not to cry.

“Hi, Pikachu,” she said quietly, walking closer while Delia talked to the lab assistant whose name was apparently Maria. She hesitated for just a moment, then decided that part of her next sentence could be forgiven because it wasn’t like she chose this. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better. My mom made these for you, if you want them. Try not to eat them too fast, that might make you sick, and you probably don’t feel like staying here any longer than you have to.”

She set the basket of treats down on the padded medical cart that Pikachu was laying on, opening the side facing him, and then stepped away so he wouldn’t have reason to feel threatened by her. The rodent’s nose twitched at the smell－and the treats did smell good, they were some kind of soft, baked, bread-y thing with berry bits in them, not quite a Poffin but pretty close－and he slowly dragged himself over the the basket.

Sasha smiled when he took a bite, then realized how good it was and dug in. At least he was eating properly, which was a good sign, so that was one less thing to worry about. Resisting the urge to pet Pikachu, she glanced back over at Delia and Maria. The two women were deep in conversation, something about the professor’s latest project.

She turned back to Pikachu, who had relaxed after devouring a few of the treats enough to simply glance over at her every now and then, muscles not as tense as they were when they’d walked into the room. Pleased that he didn’t seem to have too much against her other than being rightfully wary after he’d been hurt, she decided that that was good enough for the first day. She’d talk to him properly tomorrow.

_‘Yeah, no need to rush it. It should be fine, with how things happened this time he probably won’t take as long to open up as he did with me…’_

Wincing slightly at that, Sasha waited until Pikachu was done with the treats before softly saying that she was glad he liked them, and that she was going to take the empty basket away now. Pikachu just shrugged and shuffled back to keep his distance as she did so.

By then, Delia was wrapping up her conversation with Maria, so they said their goodbyes and agreed to come back the next day. As they were walking out of the lab, Sasha gave a plausible excuse for wanting to go to the library, claiming she wanted to learn more about Pikachu to find out if there was anything she could do for him. Delia looked delighted as soon as she mentioned it, shooing her off without any suspicions whatsoever. Sasha felt more than a little guilty about lying to the kind woman.

Ash gave her another phantom flick to the forehead; she really needed to figure out if she was just crazy or if he could actually ‘touch’ her as a… damaged soul.

_‘There’s nothing you can do about that, so don’t dwell on it,’_ he said firmly. _‘Now, you’re gonna have to grab a few books to actually look like you were researching Pikachu, and then move onto the League ones. I think… yeah,_ here’s _the ones you should start with…’_

He guided her to the building, quickly giving her the names and backgrounds of everyone she saw, prompting her on how to respond to the greetings she got. Honestly if Ash hadn’t been with her she would have been fucked, and as it was she was barely keeping the rising panic under control. The feeling of wrongness, of not belonging, came in waves, overwhelming and oppressive when it rolled in, cold and prickling when it ebbed for a few moments.

Then there was the undercurrent of pain, of grief of everything she still hadn’t fully realized she’d lost. It made focusing on retaining what she read a chore at best. Still, she powered through the reading, doing her best to make the transitions from Pikachu to Electric types, to Pokemon care, to League regulations about how trainers cared for their Pokemon, and then to less specific League regulations. She could see the elderly librarian－Miss Maddie, Ash called her, apparently she also volunteered to help tutor students at Pallet’s small school－looking her way proudly.

Ash explained, having not mentioned her distraction and unease and seeming happy to have something else to comment on. _‘Miss Maddie was always trying to get me to study more. I think this is the second time I’ve ever been in this building.’_

Sasha muffled a snort, unable to respond without looking crazy. It had become obvious during the hours of reading that Ash was in no way a bookworm, though he was more than happy to skim while sharing her vision and make jokes about anything remotely interesting he saw. Still, he knew what they were looking for and how to find it (which was weird because if he never used libraries how would he know?), so they made good progress.

In the process, she learned that the League was far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. It was at once a stand-alone, region by region government __and__ and an international organization. There was no clear distinction between roles, for any of the employees involved. Fortunately she only had to learn Kanto’s main regulations and laws right now, and mostly only the ones related to Pokemon and traveling.

Most of it boiled down to ‘be a decent fucking person’, funnily enough, but there were some serious penalties and consequences for breaking the law. Ash guiltily admitted to not having known most of them the first time he’d started out, which led to Damien getting off free, and several other similar incidents. But he was determined to make sure __she__ knew how to handle all these things.

As far as money went, beginner trainers that had applied for a regional starter (as opposed to applying for a local one, which could be distributed at either a Gym or certain sponsored/approved centers around the region) would get a ‘grant’ if they were accepted, as well as a PokeDex. That explained why so few people had been shown to have them in the anime. The grant included five spare Pokeballs and being allowed to keep your Pokemon at the Professor’s ranch for free, which was partially why the application for regional starters were so competitive.

She carefully avoided wondering just how Ash had gotten it the first time around, in that case.

The League tended to make back the money used on the grants from those trainers, as the leg up in the beginning was actually proven to give them enough of a boost that they could spend more money down the line that they earned in battles. So the system was solid, with the data to back up its use. Out of curiosity, she picked up one of the recent trainer magazines that the library had a subscription to, writing some lists with a pen and a few sticky notes that were free for public use.

From what she gathered, while having a PokeDex was _extremely_ useful, unless she got it regularly updated (which required actual paperwork to formally submit a request and significant reasoning as to __why__ you wanted the updates) there were several other things she would probably need if only so she wouldn’t end up fucking up and getting herself killed. There were PokeNavs available in Kanto (Ash had apparently had no idea), and though expensive they were only sold in Celadon, though you could order them from the department store online.

With Ash explaining the typical numbers involved in battle-earned money, and what items were how expensive in his experience, she was able to throw together a basic budget. If she was careful, she might be able to afford one during or after their time in Cerulean or Vermilion. Unfortunately, that meant she needed to learn to read maps quickly, which was… something she was bad at. She hoped the routes were clearly marked.

If she couldn’t get a PokeNav, a PokeGear was her best bet. It had more functions, sure, but it wasn’t quite as reliable as the towers used for signals weren’t as numerous as those used by PokeNavs. Still, she would take what she could get. If she didn’t starve to death or get lost in the wilderness and die, she’d consider it an accomplishment.

_‘You are just… a bundle of sunshine,’_ Ash deadpanned, once again seeming to read her mind. God she hoped he couldn’t. __‘_ You’ll be okay. I’ve gotten much better at navigation, and lucky for you I don’t need radio towers to function.’_

That… was actually fairly comforting. She’d almost forgotten that Ash had all the experience she would need, and that he’d be with her constantly until farther notice. She exhaled slowly.

“There’s a lot I need to learn,” she muttered, something that had external context so she wouldn’t be seen or heard ‘talking to herself’. Ash just hummed in agreement.


End file.
